Poly(arylene sulfide) polymers are generally known in the art and have been found useful due to their high chemical and thermal resistance. Processes for the preparation of such poly(arylene sulfide) polymers have been disclosed in the art. In a typical preparation, at least one dihaloaromatic compound, a sulfur source, and a polar organic compound are contacted under polymerization conditions. Often certain molecular weight enhancing agents are also added during the polymerization. During the polymerization, certain side reactions can occur which consume reactants and produce undesirable polymerization side-products. The production of the side-products reduces the yield of the desirable polymer product; moreover, the presence of the side-products in the recovered polymer can cause polymer processing problems such as off-gassing, spinneret die-face build-up and mold plate-out. Processes have been employed to remove the undesirable side-products, but such processes result in increased production time and costs and necessitate the disposal of the removed material. It would therefore be desirable to have a method for reducing the amount of side-products produced in the PAS polymerization process.